A place for me to talk about my knitting and whatever else crosses my mind. I love making things with my hands (cross stitch, paint by number, food) and hopefully you will enjoy seeing my work.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

FO's and lessons in Spindling

So I finished up a Sizzle this weekend - what's that - you didn't know I was working on a Sizzle? Well I'd started this tank with Elann Sonata Print a month or so ago and surprise (maddeningly) my Mom was right when she said I would probably go crazy with all those little squares. I ripped it all out and started on this instead. It went really quickly and the instructions were very well written! I started on Sizzle August 5 and Finished yesterday (long weekend in Canada - yay).

So the pictures - on the left we have Sizzle with a completed back and seed stitch border for the front. On the right is the finished product. I made the largest size (being the big bodacious buxtom beauty that I am ;-). and I skipped one waist decrease and one waist increase. I also made the higher neckline suggested in the patter. The Sonata Print didn't pool too badly. I wish I'd made it just a little bit longer and I will probaly throw a brown cami under it when I wear it outside the house. The Sonata isn't really meant for size 7 needles but I'm happy with the results.This is the other FO that I'm really pleased with. Fleece Artist sent me a free skein a couple of months ago and I finally finished the sock I started. It is a slip stitch rib from Sensational Knitted Socks (an amazing resource). I think they may be gifted but I'm not sure yet. The colours are phenomenal and the slip stitch ribbing was a great way to show it off!

I have a couple of days off this week and I've been trying to finish the silk I want to ply with the purple / marron wool pictured a couple of posts back and I was using my turkish spindle. I almost went crazy and threw the whole thing out. The silk kept breaking because I couldn't get enough spin in quickly enough. Then I gave up and emptied my top whorl, set the slik up there, breathed a huge sigh of relief, and got on with my day. A good lesson for me - to consider the quality of the fibre and the spindle in relation to each other (I usually just consider the weight of the spindle). I will hopefully have it done soon so I can post some pretty pictures!

About the silk -- I was trying to spin some of my dyed silk caps on my 2.5oz Kundert and I finally gave up; I was having the same problem -- not enough twist to stop it from breaking! And trying to join "silk thread" is incredibly difficult. In general, not liking the heavier spindles for anything but plying...

Like the yarn on the Sizzle! I am still not sure why I shy away from verigated for me, but love it on others. I wound up not even wearing my Sizzle on the vaca which was the whole reason for making it because it was so short waisted. Have to add some more seed stitch on the bottom.

And just for the record, I really love Canada too. Been to Ontario once and had a blast. But it's far away from my current home and I just bought a house here. Maybe someday I'll move up there and start stalking Dave from Chub Creek, but unfortunately it won't be anytime soon. :)